Tonight the Washington Post published a column by Anbar Province Governor Ahmed Khalaf al-Dulaimi which notes:We are struggling in this war against the forces of
darkness, but we are a people who can see the light at the end of the
tunnel, even if it is thousands of miles away. No matter how dim the
light, we hope that it will shine brighter every day.

Iraqis
have the right to live in peace. Our young people have the right to
enjoy all the wonderful things that life has to offer. And we have a
responsibility to give them hope that will empower them to live life to
the fullest, to reach out to their counterparts in other nations and to
turn away from death and extremism.

The Iraqi people are a strong group who has overcome repeatedly the
attacks and 'help' from outsiders. And, of course, they managed to
survive two terms under the despot and tyrant Nouri al-Maliki.

We frequently note he's not gone here and sometimes add that Nouri will only be truly gone when he's in the ground.

Some e-mails insist that's too harsh. Nouri's shown a kinder side in recent days and weeks, one e-mailer argued.

Has he? Well that certainly erases his sending his goons into middle
schools and high schools to liken gay men to vampires and to encourage
the students to bully, harm and kill and Iraqi gays they might know.
Right? And doesn't it wipe away all the Sunni protesters he killed?

And doesn't it just vanish all the civilians in Falluja he's killed and
wounded with his bombing of residential -neighborhoods? (National Iraq News Agency notes the bombing of Falluja's residential neighborhoods today left 3 civilians dead and seven more injured.)

And we could go on and on.

Nouri's a thug.

I'm not kind to thugs, so sorry.

And my belief that Nouri's not gone yet -- even though the world press tells us he is outgoing -- gone, gone, gone?

Hamza Mustafa (Asharq Al-Awsat) reports:Iraq’s outgoing Prime Minister Nuri Al-Maliki said on Wednesday he
was prepared to form a new government from among Iraq’s Shi’ite parties
if ongoing talks on the shape of the new government fail.Speaking in his weekly national address, Maliki claimed that the
Shi’ite-led National Alliance—which includes his State of Law coalition,
parties loyal to firebrand cleric Moqtada Al-Sadr, and the Islamic
Supreme Council of Iraq (ISCI)—had a “Plan B” in place if Prime
Minister-designate Haider Al-Abadi was unable to make progress in talks
on forming a government with Sunni and Kurdish factions.

Still think Nouri's packed it in? Or, and this is a better guess, are
you thinking Nouri's actively working to ensure that Prime
Minister-designate Haider al-Abadi fails so that he can be named to the
position and take 30 days to form a government?